Watch: Soup, main course, dessert, and some augmented reality on the side

The world’s smallest chef ‘cooks’ each meal for diners using technology.

Sometimes the hardest part of going out for a meal is the endless wait for your food.

But a design studio in Belgium, that goes by the name Skullmapping, run by Filip Sterckx and Antoon Verbeeck, has invented an experience using projection mapping and augmented reality that might actually make the waiting more enjoyable than the food itself.

The studio, whose passion is “to develop stories and present them in a new way, in order to surprise our audience”, using art and experimentation with technology, have found an unusual way of keeping diners entertained while their food is prepared. They invented the world’s smallest chef, Le Petit Chef, who is an adorable 58-mm tall character. The miniature chef features in all of their augmented reality stories, which are 3D-projected onto the diners’ tables and plates while they’re waiting.

The studio has taken their innovation to prestigious restaurants across the world, where they serve up an elaborate six-course gastronomic menu, along with their unique form of entertainment. The latest from the studio (immediately below) is “Le Petit Chef in the footsteps of Marco Polo”, which is a two-hour dining show, that uses all five senses while the little chef follows the route of Marco Polo.

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The studio posts the amusing videos on their YouTube channel, which have predictably amassed hundreds of millions of views online, and you can watch the various dishes being prepared by Le Petit Chef, including rice pudding, lobster and bouillabaisse, below.